Lunar Eclipse

Lunar Eclipse: The longest and darkest total lunar eclipse of the century will occur tomorrow, giving sky enthusiasts all over the country an chance to viewer the event. Sky enthusiasts can viewer the whole sequence of the occultation in the zodiacal constellation of Ophiuchus. An unusually long lunar eclipse with the Moon immersed deeply inside the umbral "darker" darkness of the Earth will occur tomorrow, Nehru Planetarium Director N Rathnasree said. The total phase of this lunar eclipse will last hundred minutes. The eclipse will be visible totally in Africa and Central Asia. It will be visible rising over South U.S.A., Western Africa and Europe, and seen setting over Eastern Asia, and Australia, C B Devgun from Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators "SPACE" said. The last eclipse to exceed this duration was in July 2000," she said. The next such eclipse will only take place in 2141. The total lunar eclipse will start at 00:52:30 IST and end at 02:32:42 IST. The partial eclipse, meanwhile, will start at 23:52:56 IST and finish at 03:32:15 IST.  The magnitude of one of the relatively rare total lunar eclipse will be 1.70, N Sri Raghunandan Kumar of Planetary Society of India said. The next lunar eclipse to be viewed in India will be in December this year. Also, a star named fifty-one Ophiuchi will be occulted during the eclipse. At 11:29 PM tomorrow, the Moon will occult (hide) behind the star fifty-one Ophiuchi. The star will reappear later ninety minutes at 01:01 AM of June 16, Kumar said. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth, in course of its orbit approximately the Sun, comes between the Moon and Sun in such a way that Moon is hidden in the shadow cast by Earth. Scientific groups are gearing up students, space enthusiasts and tourists for tomorrow's cosmic event. The lunar eclipse on June 15 is the longest and darkest total lunar eclipse that will occur in the 21st century, and won't be surpassed in duration until 2141. So, we're trying our best to popularise the event," Nehru Planetarium Director N Rathnasree told PTI. Moon observation will begin well ahead of the eclipse, she said, adding participants will be encouraged to learn and identify lunar features. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are aligned in a straight line. Vigyan Prasar, Department of Science and Technology, along with the Nehru Planetarium and the Children's Resource Centre of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library will be organising an all-night lunar eclipse 'Moon Carnival' for all interested sky enthusiasts in the capital tomorrow. This will help them determine precise timings of the immersion of the various lunar craters in the umbral shadow of the Earth, during the eclipse, her added. The enthusiasts will also witness some of the brighter stars of the constellation Ophiuccus being occulted by the Moon, earlier and during the eclipse, she said. A lot of folks still believe that eating food during eclipse harms the body. SPACE will encourage eating during the eclipse and then reporting the condition of your health earlier and later the phenomena. Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE), an NGO, is working to break the myths and superstitions associated with the celestial phenomenon.Lunar Eclipse